It is a striking peculiarity, that Slavic words very seldom _begin_ with a pure _a_,[20] hardly ever with _e_.[21] There are in the whole Russian language, only two words of Slavic origin, which have an initial _e_, and about twenty foreign ones in which this letter has been preserved in its purity; in all the rest the _e_ is introduced by _y_; e.g. _Yelisaveta_, Elizabeth; _yest_', Lat. _est_, it is; _Yepiscop, episcopus_, bishop; _yeress_, heresy, etc. The initial _a_ is more frequent, and is especially preserved in most foreign proper names, e.g. Alexander, Anna; or in other foreign words, where they omit the _H_, as _Ad_, Hades, Hell, _Alleluya_, Hallelujah. But the natural tendency of the language is to introduce it likewise by _y_; thus they say _yagnya_, in preference to _agnya_, Lat. _agnus_, although this last also is to be found in the old church books: _yasti_, to eat, _yakor_ anchor, _yavor_, maple, German _ahorn_.[22] The _o_ in the beginning of words is pure in most Slavic dialects, i.e. without a preceding consonant. In Russian it sounds frequently more like an _a_ than an _o_; e.g. _adin_, one, instead of _odin; atiotz_, father, instead of _otetz_. But the Vendes of Lusatia pronounce it _vo_; as also the Bohemians in the language of common life; although in higher style they have a pure initial _o_. The Croats, on the other hand, have no pure initial _u_; they say _vuho_ ear, instead _uho_ or _ucho_.
As to consonants, there is a great variety in the Slavic languages. There is however no _f_ to be found in any genuine Slavic word; and even in words adopted from foreign languages, this letter has frequently changed its sound. So the Bohemian has made _barwa_ from the German _farbe_, color. In respect to the connection of the Slavic with the Latin, it is interesting to compare _bob_ with _feba, bodu_ with _fodio, vru_ with _ferveo, peru_ with _ferio, plamen_, with _flamma, pishozala_ with _fistula_, etc.
The greatest variety among the Slavic letters exists in the sibilants. Of these there are seven, perfectly distinct from each other; some of which it would be difficult to denote by English characters[23]. They are the favourite sounds of the language. Not only the guttural sounds, _g, ch,_ and _k_, but also _d_ and _t_, are changed in many cases into analogous sibilants, according to fixed and very simple rules. On the other hand, the Slavic nations have a way of softening the harshness of the consonants, peculiar in that extent to them alone. The Frenchman has his _l mouillé,_ the Spaniard his _elle doblado_ and _ñ_. the Portuguese his _lh_ and _nh_; the Slavic nations possess the same softening sound for almost all their consonants. Such is the usual termination of the Russian verb in _at'_ or _it'_, etc. where other Slavic nations say _ati_ or _iti_ or those of the western branch _acz_ or _ecz_. In the same manner it occurs after initial consonants; thus _mjaso_, meat; _bjel_, white; _ljbov_, love, etc.